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2:08 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

A Dash Of Olive Oil May Preserve Decaying British Cathedral

Credit Nigel Roddis / Reuters/Landov
The stones of York Minster in northern England are decaying. Olive oil may be just the dressing the cathedral needs to preserve its Gothic architecture.

Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 3:24 am

The British have some stunning cathedrals, and York Minster, in the north of England, is one of the most magnificent of all.

Construction on it began 800 years ago, and a mere 2 1/2 centuries later, work was complete.

The result was one of Europe's largest Gothic cathedrals and one that's had a rough ride through history: It's been pillaged and looted, and damaged by devastating fires and lightning strikes.

Today, there's another threat: acid rain. As a result, the cathedral's stones are decaying.

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Around the Nation
1:41 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Workshops Help Families Grappling With Alzheimer's Home Care

Credit iStockphoto.com
The nation's largest provider of nonmedical home care for seniors is now offering training to help family caregivers deal with the challenges of caring for an Alzheimer's patient.

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 6:24 pm

There are more than 5 million people with Alzheimer's in the U.S., and most are cared for at home. Now, one company has begun offering training to family caregivers to help them deal with the special challenges of caring for an Alzheimer's patient.

The company, Home Instead Senior Care, is the nation's largest provider of nonmedical home care for seniors. The workshops are free and available to anyone, whether they're clients of the company or not.

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Remembrances
1:41 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Architecture Critic Huxtable Remembered For Clever, Biting Commentary

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 3:37 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable had a pillow stitched with the words: Ada Louise Huxtable already doesn't like it. That was the zingy caption of a New Yorker cartoon from 1968. The cartoon showed a rough construction site with only a single column erected. A construction worker in a hardhat is holding a newspaper reading Huxtable's scathing critique to the architect. Ada Louise Huxtable, who pioneered architecture criticism, died yesterday in Manhattan. She was 91.

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Planet Money
1:15 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

Episode 428: Turning A Boom Town Into A Real Town

Credit Joshua Marston / NPR
Coming soon: A town.

Originally published on Sat January 12, 2013 8:53 am

  • Listen to the Episode

Williston, North Dakota is in the middle of an oil boom. Thousands of workers have flooded into the town, but they're reluctant to call it home. Instead, they live in bleak rentals, often sleeping in dorm-like trailers known as "man camps."

Local officials are trying to turn Williston into a real town, where people want to bring their families. But it's a tough sell.

On today's show, we visit Williston, and we learn why one guy endures a thousand-mile commute, why a one-bedroom apartment costs $2100 a month, and why the town is building an indoor lazy river.

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U.S.
12:55 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

New York Town Up In Arms As Gun Show Approaches

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 3:37 pm

Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is the kind of town tourists visit and never want to leave. In winter there are skiing and snowshoeing; in summer, the horse racing season at its historic racetrack.

But this idyllic town of about 28,000 in the foothills of the Adirondacks is facing a crisis over the Saratoga Springs Arms Fair, an event held several times each year at the city's public exhibition space since 1984.

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The Salt
12:18 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

College Students With Food Allergies Make Legal Gains

Credit iStockphoto.com
A recent settlement between a university and the Justice Department may encourage institutions to better accommodate students with food allergies.

Many a college student lives off of microwavable meals – but some do it not by choice but because they're worried school food might make them sick.

They may have celiac disease, a digestive ailment caused by gluten, or life-threatening allergies to foods like peanuts — both are on the rise. But even as more people become aware of the issues, schools and institutions may lag behind.

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The Two-Way
12:04 pm
Tue January 8, 2013

NRA Accepts Biden's Invitation To Meet

Credit Kevin Lamarque / Reuters /Landov
Vice President Biden.

"We are sending a rep to hear what they have to say," National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam says of the organization's decision to accept an invitation from the task force Vice President Biden is leading — the group that's studying gun laws and related issues in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Con

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Shots - Health News
11:55 am
Tue January 8, 2013

Binge Drinking Is Common Among Women, Yet Overlooked

Credit Amanda Berg / The Alexia Foundation for NPR
A picture from the photo story "Keg Stand Queens," which explores the gender dynamics of undergraduate binge drinking.

Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 8:59 am

Binge drinking is something many people want to shrug off.

But officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it's a public health problem that deserves more attention.

You might be tempted to think binge drinking is mainly an issue for men, but that's not the case. So the CDC is putting the spotlight on women's binge drinking, which it says is both dangerous and overlooked.

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The Two-Way
11:11 am
Tue January 8, 2013

It's In The Books: 2012 Was Warmest Year On Record For Lower 48 States

Originally published on Tue January 8, 2013 11:37 am

Last year "marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States," the National Climatic Data Center just confirmed.

This probably won't surprise many, but "a record warm spring, second-warmest summer, fourth-warmest winter and a warmer-than-average autumn" combined to make the year's average temperature 55.3°F.

That's "3.2°F above the 20th century average, and 1.0°F above 1998, the previous warmest year."

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The Two-Way
11:09 am
Tue January 8, 2013

911 Calls Played And Traps In Holmes' Apartment Described In Colo. Court

Credit Bill Robles / Reuters /Landov
A courtroom sketch of James Holmes as he was brought into a courtroom in Centennial, Colo., this week.

On Day 2 of the preliminary hearing for James Holmes, who is charged with the murders of 12 people and wounding of dozens at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., last summer:

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